There was also good news for corporate Calgary in that electrical power — cut when the core was engulfed by water — had been restored to a large portion of downtown.

“This means we can allow business tenants to return to assess possible damage,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi, adding that workers are still being encouraged to stay home until they get the all-clear from their employers.

But amid the optimism permeating the city in the aftermath of last week’s devastating natural disaster came a sobering prediction from Alberta Premier Alison Redford.

“I don’t want to scare people,” she said. “But when we talk about what’s going to happen, we’re talking about a 10-year plan.”

The province kicked off the march down that long road ahead by promising Monday to provide $1 billion toward the flood recovery effort.

The money will be used to support people who have been forced from their homes, as well as to run relief centres and to start rebuilding infrastructure.

The government will provide pre-loaded debit cards to displaced residents to help with their immediate housing needs and day-to-day purchases. Those who qualify will receive $1,250 per adult and $500 per child.

Flood victims in the city have started the process of absorbing the obstacles they now face; on Monday, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi announced almost all the 75,000 people who were evacuated could go home.

Friends, family, neighbours and strangers pitched in to help haul out soggy furniture, muddy carpets and mushy drywall from flooded basements.

Symbols of generosity were everywhere: three little girls raised $150 for the Red Cross with a lemonade stand; a Grade 8 class worked to clear debris from the home of their teacher’s brother; hundreds crowded a football stadium parking lot and waited in line for the chance to sign up as cleanup volunteers.

But for many in the outlying communities devastated by the flood, there was mostly mounting frustration.

In High River, there is still no timeline for when 13,000 evacuees will be allowed to go home.

Some 1,000 people who refused to evacuate earned a tongue-lashing from Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths, who said there will be no relief effort for those who run out of supplies.

He said anyone defying the evacuation order is willingly staying in an area with diminishing fresh water, no sanitation and no supplies. He even accused them of holding back the rebuilding efforts of other residents.

On Monday, RCMP said they had two separate incidents where officers conducting door-to-door searches rescued women who had chosen to disregard the order to get out.

“Both women indicated that their situations were becoming quite desperate and one of the women appeared to be very distraught,” said Const. Janice Schoepp.

“One of the residents was rescued by a team in a boat while the other resident was resident was located by a team in a light armoured vehicle.”

In Medicine Hat, the deluge was not as bad as had originally been feared. Nevertheless, after the South Saskatchewan River peaked on Monday morning, about 1,000 homes were hit by high water.

A small number of the 10,000 evacuees were allowed back later in the day, but city officials said the rest must wait until their homes are inspected, noting that while streets may look dry, basements could be filled with a mix of storm water and raw sewage.

Ron Robinson, director of emergency measures, said there’s really no telling how long the process could take.

“It’s still not safe for people to return home,” said Mayor Norm Boucher. “There’s still debris coming out. We have some dams that are starting to leak a little bit.”

The RCMP brought in a specialized dive team from Saskatchewan to assist with underwater searches in homes too deeply flooded to thoroughly check for victims or survivors.

A water rescue team from British Columbia was brought in to assist with water searches on flooded rivers and streams, while two RCMP flood specialists have arrived from Manitoba.

Some soldiers are expected to stay on to help in High River and Medicine Hat, but a lot of the Canadian Forces troops brought into the region to pluck people from rooftops at the height of the flooding are likely to stand down in the next few days.

“The urgency of the situation has been reduced,” said Griffiths. “We don’t have flood waters coming down the river and we’re not sandbagging or anything like that.”

He said the government has been getting questions about “whether we can send these nice soldiers to people’s homes to help them clean up,” but stressed that’s not their job.

“It would be inappropriate ... to have some of the best-trained military force in the world standing around and waiting to see if there’s anything else they can do.”

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